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Throughout my career, I’ve placed a heavy emphasis on networking in the construction and landscaping industry. From tradeshows to association meetings, if there were trade media representatives and manufacturers marketing teams there, I felt like I needed to be there too — even if I had no purpose for it. It helped me develop an impressive professional network and a lot of badges that I could hang in my office.

Those were the positives of being that “PR person.” There were also a lot of negative aspects of traveling/networking as much as I was. Rather than list them all out, I’m only going to focus on the most important one for clients — I didn’t have time to devote to writing and reading. And to be an effective PR professional, those habits are essential to delivering the quality “print-ready” material that will make editors and their readers happy.

The quality of the content is what a public relations effort should be judged on. In today’s world of email boxes being flooded with newsletters, few contractors are stopping to take the time to read anything, which lessens the value of a simple placement. And, that’s why quality writing matters so much.

In my somewhat-still-new career outside of hectic agency life, I’ve been working hard to be more mindful of the content I’m producing. I’m able to get back to reading the print publications, website news and newsletters on a daily basis. All of that is helping me to be able to deliver quality content for clients that is sure to get read.

At the end of the day, placements that aren’t being consumed by someone is pointless. Make sure you’re challenging your PR people to go beyond writing press releases, case studies and blog posts that will simply get a placed. When you’re reviewing a draft, ask yourself, “will anyone actually want to read this.”